Smoke Exhaust With An Air Curtain Fan

ABSTRACT

A smoke exhaust has a casing, a suction fan and an air curtain fan. The casing has an air chamber, an air duct and a smoke collecting eaves. The air chamber has a lower inlet and an upper inlet. The smoke collecting eaves is mounted on the casing. The suction fan is mounted in the casing. The air curtain fan is mounted on the eaves and is capable generating a downward air curtain. The air curtain prevents the smoke from spreading out of the smoke exhaust.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a smoke exhaust, and more particularly to a smoke exhaust that has an air chamber and an air curtain fan to prevent smoke from spreading and to guide the smoke into the air chamber.

2. Description of Related Art

Smoke exhausts are set in kitchens to exhaust smoke from foods when people are cooking.

With reference to FIG. 2, a conventional smoke exhaust has a casing, a suction fan (51) and a collecting eaves. The casing has an inside surface, a top, a bottom, an air duct (52). The air duct (52) is defined in the casing and has an inlet and an exhaust outlet (52). The inlet is defined through the inside surface and communicates with the air duct (52). The exhaust outlet (53) is defined through the top of the casing and communicates with the air duct (52). The suction fan (51) is mounted in the air duct (52) and is aligned with the inlet. When operating, the smoke exhaust sucks smoke through the inlet and exhausts the smoke through the exhaust outlet (53). The collecting eaves (50) is mounted on and protrudes laterally from the top of the casing. The collecting eaves (50) may collect smoke floating to the top of the smoke exhaust so that the suction fan (51) can suck the smoke accumulated under the collecting eaves (50).

However, the smoke exhaust has following defects.

1. The smoke exhaust is usually set to be higher than people. The inlet is located at a distance from the bottom of the smoke exhaust. Therefore, smoke floating in a vertical area between the inlet and the bottom would not be sucked and would contact people's faces and therefore make them feel uncomfortable.

2. The collecting eaves (50) on the top is too high to effectively collect the spreading smoke. Great quantity of smoke spreads out of the smoke exhaust before reaching the collecting eaves (50). The vaporized oil and dust in the spreading smoke attach to walls and cookers in the kitchen and people have to frequently spend time cleaning.

To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a smoke exhaust with an air curtain fan to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main objective of the invention is to provide a smoke exhaust that has an air chamber and an air curtain fan to prevent smoke from spreading and to guide the smoke into the air chamber.

A smoke exhaust in accordance with the present invention comprises a casing, a suction fan and an air curtain fan. The casing has an air chamber, an air duct and a smoke collecting eaves. The air chamber has a lower inlet and an upper inlet. The smoke collecting eaves is mounted on the casing. The suction fan is mounted in the casing. The air curtain fan is mounted on the eaves and is capable generating a downward air curtain. The air curtain prevents the smoke from spreading out of the smoke exhaust.

Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side view in partial cross section of a smoke exhaust with an air curtain fan in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a side view in partial cross section of a conventional smoke exhaust in accordance with the prior art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a smoke exhaust in accordance with the present invention comprises a casing (1), a suction fan (20) and an air curtain fan (40).

The casing (1) may be set uprightly in a kitchen, is hollow and has an outside wall, an inside wall, a top, a bottom, a partition board (16), an air chamber (13), an air duct (10) and a smoke collecting eaves (15).

The partition board (16) is mounted in the casing (1) between the outside and inside walls.

The air chamber (13) is defined in the casing (1) between the partition board (16) and the inside wall and has a lower inlet (131), an upper inlet (130) and an oil tank (133). The lower inlet (131) is defined through the inside wall near the bottom and communicates with the air chamber (13). The upper inlet (130) is defined through the inside wall near the top, communicates with the air chamber (13) and is higher than the lower inlet (131). The oil tank (133) is mounted detachably on the bottom of the casing (1) to collect oil in the smoke.

The air duct (10) is defined in the casing (1) between the partition board (16) and the outside wall and has a mounting hole (14) and an air outlet (11). The mounting hole (14) is defined through the partition board (16) and communicates with the air duct (10) and the air chamber (13). The air outlet (1) is defined through the top of the casing (1) and communicates with the air duct (10).

The smoke collecting eaves (15) is mounted on and protrudes laterally from the top of the casing (1), corresponds to the inside wall and has a front end and a bottom surface.

The suction fan (20) is mounted securely through the through hole (14), is capable of generating airflow from the upper and lower inlets (130, 131) to the air outlet (11), has a suction portion (21) and may further have an oil filter (25). The oil filter (25) is mounted on the suction portion (21) of the suction fan (20) and collects oil in the smoke from foods.

The air curtain fan (40) is mounted on the bottom surface of the smoke collecting eaves (15), may be a cross flow fan, is capable of generating downward air curtain, has an air inlet hole and an air outlet hole (150) and may further have two sets of air baffles (151) and a screen (41).

The air inlet hole is defined through the air curtain fan and the smoke collecting eaves (15).

The air outlet hole (150) is defined through the air curtain fan (40) and faces downward so that the air curtain fan (40) is capable of generating the downward air curtain.

The sets of the baffles (151) are mounted rotatably in the air outlet hole (150) of the air curtain fan (40) and are capable of splitting the air curtain into two sub air curtains in two directions. One sub air curtain is directed to uprightly downward to prevent smoke of foods from spreading out of the smoke exhaust.

The other sub air curtain is directed toward the lower inlet (131) of the air chamber (13) so that the smoke between the sub air curtains would be directed to enter the lower inlet (131), as show in FIG. 2. Raised smoke escaped from a space between the sub air curtains is accumulated under the smoke collecting eaves (15) and is sucked by the upper inlet (130).

The screen (41) is mounted on the air inlet hole of the air curtain fan (40) to prevent the foreign matters from inadvertently falling into the air inlet hole.

The air curtain generated by the air curtain fan (40) effectively prevents the smoke from spreading and guides the smoke to enter the lower inlet (131) so that the smoke exhaust efficiently exhausts the smoke. Furthermore, the lower inlet (131) near the bottom of the casing (1) sucks the lower smoke to prevent the smoke from rising and spreading.

Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in the details, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed. 

1. A smoke exhaust comprising: a casing being hollow and having an outside wall; an inside wall; an inside wall; a top; a bottom; a partition board mounted in the casing between the outside and inside walls; an air chamber defined in the casing between the partition board and the inside wall and having a lower inlet defined through the inside wall near the bottom and communicating with the air chamber; and an upper inlet defined through the inside wall near the top, communicating with the air chamber and being higher than the lower inlet; an air duct defined in the casing between the partition board and the outside wall and having a mounting hole mounting hole defined through the partition board and communicating with the air duct and the air chamber; and an air outlet defined through the top of the casing and communicating with the air duct; and a smoke collecting eaves mounted on and protruding laterally from the top of the casing, corresponding to the inside wall and having a front end and a bottom surface; a suction fan mounted securely through the through hole, being capable of generating airflow from the upper and lower inlets to the air outlet and having a suction portion; and an air curtain fan mounted on the bottom surface of the smoke collecting eaves, being capable of generating downward air curtain and having an air inlet hole defined through the air curtain fan and the smoke collecting eaves; and an air outlet hole defined through the air curtain fan and facing downward.
 2. The smoke exhaust as claimed in claim 1, wherein the air curtain fan further has two sets of air baffles mounted rotatably in the air outlet hole of the air curtain fan and being capable of splitting the air curtain into two sub air curtains in two directions.
 3. The smoke exhaust as claimed in claim 2, wherein one sub air curtain is directed to uprightly downward and the other is directed to the lower inlet of the air chamber.
 4. The smoke exhaust as claimed in claim 3, wherein the suction fan further has an oil filter mounted on the suction portion of the suction fan.
 5. The smoke exhaust as claimed in claim 4, wherein the air curtain fan further has a screen mounted on the air inlet hole of the air curtain fan.
 6. The smoke exhaust as claimed in claim 5, wherein the air chamber further has an oil tank mounted detachably on the bottom of the casing. 